What is the role of Programmatic Advertising in Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is all about communicating the brand’s message to the target audience using online mediums in the most effective and cost-efficient way. Through programmatic advertising, companies can ensure that the right message is served to the right set of people at the right place and at the right time. Simply put, the term programmatic advertising refers to the automated process of purchasing and optimizing digital ad campaigns using AI and ML to maximize returns on investment. Before we delve into the details of how programmatic advertising helps companies ramp up their marketing efforts, let us first understand how programmatic advertising works.
Should you partner with Programmatic Advertising companies for your brand?
Programmatic advertising is in the growth stage since 2021 with a lot of companies trying to leverage it to grow their brand. However, programmatic advertising can be quite difficult for marketers to wrap their heads around. There are too many components to be mindful of like data, algorithms, demand and supply-side platforms, ad exchangers etc. An effective programmatic advertising strategy involves not just setting a budget and getting started with ad copies but choosing the right platform with the right features that yields the right ROI.
Here are some of the reasons to work with a Programmatic Advertising Company:
- Programmatic advertising companies invest time and effort in the media planning phase that ensures better reach
- They are adept at leveraging different platforms- DMP, SSP, Ad exchanges etc.
- They can create customized campaigns in line with your marketing goals.
- They help with analytics, tracking, reporting and measurement.
Benefits of Programmatic Advertising Companies can take advantage of
There are a number of ways programmatic advertising benefits brands:-
Large-scale reach at low cost – With so many publisher websites available and the availability of cross-platform inventory, programmatic advertising is arguably the best strategy for brands who want to target a large section of the audience. Also, programmatic advertising is the most cost-effective form of advertising as it allows brands to reach a huge chunk of the audience with a limited budget.
Transparency – Programmatic advertising allows marketers to have complete visibility of their campaigns. Marketers can see what websites their ads are displayed on, the kind of audience the ads are catering to, and their ROI. This gives them an idea as to how their ads are performing and to make changes in the strategies and so on.
Increases efficacy of the campaigns – The fact that marketers have access to the data in real-time means that they can make changes and optimize the placement or messaging in the ads as necessary to increase conversions. This data-driven approach in programmatic advertising has a significant impact on the efficacy of the campaigns.
Targeting – The level of targeting that is possible in programmatic advertising cannot be matched by any other form of marketing. It allows marketers to segment and target the audience based on a number of factors like:-
- contextual (the kind of sites where ads would be displayed)
- behavioral (based on purchasing behavior, habits, interests etc.)
- geo targeting based on location or pin codes and devices (like mobile, TV, desktop, laptop, tablets etc.)
Variety of formats – Another benefit of programmatic advertising is the availability of different formats. That way they can test and experiment with different formats to see what works best for them. Some of the different formats of ads include audio ads, display ads, native ads, connected TV ads, digital OOH ads like digital billboards, bulletin boards in restaurants, markets, shopping malls etc.
Trackable and scalable – A programmatic ad campaign is one of the most scalable campaigns as it allows markets real-time visibility into their campaigns. They can track their ads and keep an eye on their spending. Also, it is one of the most scalable marketing strategies available for small and medium sized companies. With limited budgets, they can put a monetary cap on their total daily budget to ensure they don’t overspend. The money is then strategically managed throughout the day with automation.
Avoids manual negotiation – Another one of the major benefits of programmatic advertising for marketers is that it involves the least amount of manual intervention. Advertisers no longer have to spend hours on bidding, trading, negotiation etc. Marketers can buy millions of ad spaces across websites in a matter of seconds thanks to AI and algorithms. This not only saves a lot of time but also reduces chances of human errors.
Getting the basics right!
Now that you are aware of what programmatic advertising is and the important role that it plays in digital marketing, it is time to get started and ramp up your marketing and advertising efforts. However, before you take the plunge, it is important to do some homework. Before you start with programmatic advertising, make sure to identify your objective from the campaign, your ad goals etc. This will help you identify the right set of audiences and the channels to utilize. These answers will help you segment and target the right audience and create customized ad copies for each section.
Based on these insights you can then go on to select the right demand side programmatic advertising company based on their targeting options, channels, ad spend, user interface. Remember, your efforts combined with the technology and the platform is what yields desired results.